Weekly Musings - Utah Week Edition

This week's edition of the Weekly Musings is dedicated to the men and women who lost their lives on 9/11 at the hands of fanatical terrorists. We will never forget.The Pac-12 kicks off in the Coliseum with a USC win over Utah, and the rest of the nation delivers some of the most exciting football we may see all year. What a weekend ...- I did something that I have not done in 15 years of USC home games: I sat on the opposite side of the Coliseum. I decided to buy 50-yard line seats for every game this year but in all different sections and seats ... My seats this week were in Section 7, directly on the 50, in the 19th row, on the press box side. Not only was my wife of ten years with me, but the seats were truly remarkable. I may have to keep that part of the Coliseum going ... =)- This game is a lot easier to diagnose than was last week's. Turnovers are frustrating, and sometimes fatal, but they are not complicated. If you look up at halftime and see the stats on the 150' jumbotron, and happen to notice that USC is only up by 3, but has 100 yards more of offense and 5 minutes more of time of possession, you can pretty much skip the turnover line, because you know what it will say.- Of those two turnovers in the first half, I thought both were particularly bad (and of course both were in the red zone). But Lane said in the post-game interview that for some reason Matt's pick was his fault (as in, Lane's), though I am not sure why. DJ Morgan's fumble was unforced, and Lane has plenty enough talent at Running Back that he can afford to sit the kids who fumble the football. DJ will learn from it. Fight on, DJ!- Speaking of that abundance of Tailback talent, Marc Tyler was just fantastic. I am mystified by my Trojan brethren who do not understand this, but there is no football lesson more fundamentally true of this year's Trojan team, or any other Trojan team of the last ten years, than this: To the extent that we establish a running game first, we will have a good offense; to the extent that we try to force a passing game without a strong run, we will not.- There was a lot of talk this week about the meeting Coach Kiffin had last week with the disgruntled Dillon Baxter and his disgruntled parents. I, for one, am glad to see the kid frustrated that he is not playing. I have no interest in having people on this team that do not have the competitive desire to play. However, Dillon will have a really bright future at USC if he keeps doing what he needs to do. He needs to make the most of every chance he gets. He can play, and his time will come. If he leaves, he leaves. But what is best for Dillon is to fight on.- The wisdom of "tailback by committee" has been something I have called into question even when Carroll began doing it the year after Reggie and Lendale left. And I think if one believes (as I do) that "tailback by committee" is an unwise practice for our football team, doesn't it follow that "recruiting a tailback by committee" is also unwise?- Robert Woods had another great game, but so did Tight End Xavier Grimble (a freshman from Vegas). Is that the first Dominique Byrd we have had since, um, Dominique Byrd?- At halftime when Utah was introducing their band, they said Utah had won more BcS games than any team in the Pac-12 besides one. USC has won six BcS bowls (most in the country). I seem to remember that Utah has won two (I believe a big win over Pittsburgh and a rout of Alabama). But this got me thinking: Has any other Pac-12 team won ANY BcS bowl games???? The only I could come up with was Stanford (last year). I believe that Oregon has played in two and lost them both. I know UCLA and Cal have never been in one. When Oregon State beat Notre Dame was that a BcS bowl? Either way, what a stat. USC - 6. Utah - 2. One or two teams - 1. Everyone else - 0.- The highly discussed decisions to go for two points in the game against Minnesota has taken away from what has really been an unbelievable part of our special teams: Blocked kicks. The blocked field goal this week won the game for us, but you can argue that last week's did too (even though it wasn't at the buzzer). We led the nation in blocked kicks last year. The decision to go for two for no reason whatsoever could cost us a game (I don't think he will do it again), but the blocked kicks can (and will) win us games. Give credit where it is due.- But I do question having Robey return punts. Isn't this a way to get Baxter on the field? I do not believe I have seen Robey get more than six yards yet. We will never have someone like Reggie back there again, but I do miss feeling like EVERY SINGLE PUNT was going to the house ...- In my opinion, our best play of the game was the open field tackle on the fake punt attempt of Utah that gave us the ball on downs. Great tackle, and great save.- The NCAA's new rule opposing player celebration is as wise as the work that their infractions committee does.- I would be lying if I did not say that i am nervous about the season. Realistically I think we could be as good as 10-2 and as bad as 7-5. I would love to say 11-1 or 12-0 but to struggle with Minnesota and Utah at home does not inspire that kind of confidence. I think it is possible there will not be any teams that finish 12-0 (or 13-0) this year. But I think this team needs to find their way, and that will mean staying healthy, not turning the ball over, and playing better football against mediocre (or bad) teams.- One thing, though, that usually means a lot of wins: The ability of the defense to stop the opponent from converting on third down. We were extraordinary at this yesterday - extraordinary.- I got back home to Newport just in time to walk in and see the last couple of minutes of that Michigan/Notre Dame game. Unbelievable! Really, I mean, an instant classic. I actually feel terrible for Notre Dame. I would never ever ever get over it. And I doubt I will ever ever ever again see a football game with three touchdowns scored in the last 1:12 of action, with no field goals, and no onside kicks. Incredible. Are the Wolverines back? I hope so - it is good for college football for Michigan to be back. And since our ridiculous bowl ban is done after this season, I would look forward to going back to the days of beating Michigan over and over again in the Rose Bowl.- Notre Dame's secondary is really, really bad. But the did find their quarterback.- Didn't see too much of the Alabama game, but from what I did see, the reminder that defense and a running game wins championships is in order. They have both, even if they don't have much of a passing game.- Is Auburn the new LSU when it comes to absurd luck and utter nonsense from the refs giving them undeserved wins? Mississippi State should sue.- I love Steve Spurrier - I really do. Lattimore is a bona fide Heisman candidate if you ask me. Mark Richt's days are numbered.- So Nevada is not as good as last year, eh?- I heard the UCLA commentators after UCLA's dramatic win over San Jose State. It was tied with 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter and SJSU had the ball. At least, I thought it was San Jose State. Once UCLA won, the commentators sure sounded like they had played Alabama ... I emailed the UCLA fans at the game for some feedback on the big win but not one of the 21 people have emailed me back yet.- Arizona State is going to be good.- Stanford will absolutely be undefeated when they come into the Coliseum the last Saturday of Halloween. The question is: Will they be so the next day?- Lou Holtz predicted that Notre Dame would go 10-2 and end up in a BcS bowl game. WHat I wouldn't do to get Granny to place some money with me on that. I have all of my kids' college funds to offer on this one, ok?I will say adios at this point. Next Saturday would have been my dad's 63rd birthday. Since he passed 15 years ago, the childhood interest in college football he gave me has morphed into a full blown obsession. As with everything else he gave me, I am most grateful. Fight on ...